New Paltz school district still considering later start times

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. >> The school district is revisiting the possibility of changing school day start times.

The renewed interest in the changes comes in the wake of Ulster BOCES telling the district that it still would be able to accommodate New Paltz students who are enrolled in BOCES vocational programs.

New Paltz Superintendent Maria Rice said BOCES Superintendent Charles Khoury told her that “BOCES would not be a deterrent [and] he could move all of our p.m. students to the a.m.”

“So this initiative ... is still being considered and thought about,” Rice said of altering start times. “We’ve made no decision, but it doesn’t mean we have stopped thinking about [it].”

Current start times at 7:55 a.m. at the middle school, 8 a.m. at the high school, 9:15 a.m. at Lenape Elementary School and 9:25 a.m. at Duzine Elementary School.

Previous discussions in the district have focused on starting the school day later — by five to 10 minutes at the high school and by up to 30 minutes at the elementary and middle schools.

This past January, district officials cited an Academy of Pediatrics statement that said, “At the onset of puberty, most children experience a sleep-wake ‘phase delay’ that shifts their sleep cycle and can make it difficult to fall asleep before 11 p.m. and wake before 8 a.m.”

Drawbacks cited during previous discussions included a potential increase of $175,000 in annual student transportation costs and the fact that ending the school day later could mean some students would get home after dark in the late fall and part of the winter.

Also, some of the options would shorten instructional time, and after-school sports practices would have to start and end later.

Rice said district officials will assess the potential impacts of any changes before making them.

“We want to make it real,” she said. “We don’t want any hypotheticals.”